Rash: Candidates for governor, the time is now to speak up on ICE

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For the near-dozen Republicans running for governor and for DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who signaled her imminent bid by filing initial paperwork to run last week, the context of the contest should have already been clear.

But it was made unmistakable on the morning of Jan. 24, when 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti was killed in Minneapolis after engaging in a struggle with federal agents taking part in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Operation Metro Surge.

While a thorough state investigation is imperative to discern the truth of the fatal encounter — especially since statements from federal authorities are so inconsistent with eyewitness and video accounts — this much is already glaringly apparent: The operation, in which unidentified masked federal agents who vastly outnumber local law enforcement forces have swept up U.S. citizens and those who are here legally along with those with undocumented status, must end.

So as the candidates hustle the hustings, telling voters why they’re the best choice to lead when they take office next year, voters would be right to respond:

Why wait?

Why not actually, not just rhetorically, “back the blue,” as often admonished by President Donald Trump and many in his party, and listen to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who said in a post-shooting news conference that “this is not sustainable”?

Nothing is more important than the sanctity of human life, and more lives are at stake if the operation — or siege, as it seems in the Twin Cities — continues. As Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rightly said in reacting to the shooting and the overall federal efforts, if the goal was to achieve peace and safety “this is doing the exact opposite.”

Beyond the individual tragedies, a collective community one is unfolding as well, in traumatized families, kids missing schools (some at levels last seen during the COVID crisis) and in livelihoods on the precipice from the operation’s economic ramifications.

And the damage may be long-lasting. Already, the ICE crisis seen on local streets and global screens has wrecked the perception many have of Minnesota — just five years after seismic image damage from riots following the murder of George Floyd. These and other tragedies have already undone years of a carefully cultivated culture of good governance and civic stability, attributes that have historically helped the state thrive.

Minnesota, said Larry Jacobs, the founder and director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, “has always sold its moderation and its competence nationally in all sorts of ways: the competition for new populations, for talented workers, for business — both to come and stay. And the very serious tarnishing of Minnesota’s reputation is going to be a decadelong hurdle. Every time there is a business that’s thinking of relocating in Minnesota there’s going to be a need for reassurance that this is not a state of chaos and a state of disarray.” (The impact of the ongoing events was also the subject of an open letter released by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce that was signed by some 60-plus leaders of Minnesota businesses.)

Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped his bid for a third term, is rightly opposed to such an escalation, but the administration seems set on working against, not with, his governance.

Those who hope to be the next governor should send a consistent message.

For instance, should she officially get into the race, Klobuchar, who has a very well-deserved reputation for reaching across the aisle to actually accomplish things, should work Washington at every level to persuade the administration to end the federal occupation of Twin Cities streets. Encouragingly, the senator is rightly refusing to vote for a bill to further fund the Department of Homeland Security, which may shut down part or even all the government in the coming days.

And the Republican candidates touting ties to Trump — or seeking to curry his favor — should show how they can leverage those political or business relationships to end the president’s provocations.

“Minnesota has become kind of a pawn in the polarization of the country,” Jacobs said, adding that while the state cannot clearly be defined as blue or red, purple doesn’t describe it either.

For Republicans, the incentive system in sifting through the crowded candidate field may favor trying to connect the red polka dots by appealing to the base (potentially with base appeals that Trump ramp up, not end, the oppression). Support of, even fealty to, Trump may mute any criticism or calls for restraint — even though such silence will speak volumes to the blue polka dots and make it that much harder to return Minnesota to its past placidity, let alone its essential future dynamism.

So while it may seem quixotic — naive, even — to call for leadership now, not a year from now, it’s equally cynical to not call on those running for governor to do what most candidates claim they will do: Represent all Minnesotans. And if that’s the ethos the times (and voters) require, why wait? The time for leadership is right now.

Fundamentally, candidates should answer this question, to themselves and to all Minnesotans: Do you want to be governor or actually govern?

If the answer isn’t the latter you’re doing a disservice to the state.